Examples Of Naive People In The Great Gatsby

A naive person or thing shows a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment. The Great Gatsby is about wealthy naive people living in New York during the 1920s. Additionally, Of Mice and Men is about men working in California who naively believe they can achieve the American dream. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck show naive people as unsuccessful in the end of their books. In The Great Gatsby, there are characters that make naive decisions and think like children. Throughout the book, Gatsby is constantly chasing his past and he states, “Can’t repeat the past?... Of course you can!” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby wanted to return to his life with Daisy so tenaciously, it changed his whole life. But, in reality, it wasn’t going to happen.

He loved to pet soft things, so he wanted a puppy. He ended up receiving a day old puppy and when he got the chance he took it away from its mother to pet it. Newborn puppies have to stay with their mother's for the first few weeks of their lives. Lennie wasn't aware of this and lacked other insight on puppies. When George tried to explain this to him he said, “I didn’t mean no harm, George. Honest I didn’t. I jus’ wanted to pet ‘um a little” (Steinbeck 43). He puts the puppy back but still isn’t aware of George’s reasoning. Lennie is belligerent with the puppy and ends up killing it. He doesn’t understand that one has to be gentle with a newborn puppy. He gets mad at the pup and says, “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so small as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard” (Steinbeck 85). Lennie blames the puppy for dying but actually his lack of common sense is what killed the dog. A person who makes well considered decisions would know not to 'bounce' a puppy. One last example is when Lennie and a few other workers formulate a dream, of achieving the American dream. Lennie tells Curley’s wife, “We gonna have a house an’ a garden and a place for alfalfa, an’ that alfalfa is for the rabbits” (Steinbeck 89). He is always thinking about his future with the rabbits at their new house. This whole dream is only a wish for the other men like George, but for Lennie, this is what